Church in unholy row with ‘invaders’
Parties return to court amid allegations of violence, fraud
Congregants of a Cape Town church rue the day they accepted a Congolese missionary into their ministry.
The Riverview Church of Christ in Lakeside has spent years trying to evict Honore Makembe after his faction locked members out of the premises. Now the churchgoers are worried about the property, worth around R15m.
The parties first went to court in 2015 and will return later this month. Pastor Dereck Beukes, the church spokesperson, said it has incurred legal costs of R1.3m.
“This impasse has decimated the church’s financial reserves, as well as spiritually and emotionally,” he said.
“It’s been dragging on since 2014. It has hamstrung the congregation from caring for the destitute. It is sad to see someone who was destitute and without food turning against the church that helped him.”
In 2017, Makembe, who teamed up with another congregant, Thomas Smith, suggested the church’s assets be sold and the proceeds shared between the factions.
The parties will butt heads in the high court in Cape Town on April 28. The church wants Makembe and Smith jailed for allegedly breaching two high court orders.
The first ruling, in 2015, said the two factions should hold services at different times and share the rates, electricity, water and sanitation bills.
In 2016, the high court found Makembe and Smith in contempt of the order and sentenced them to three months’ imprisonment, suspended on condition they allowed the other faction to attend church and complied with the previous order.
The church claims they have continued to breach the orders, and Makembe’s faction is also accused of assaulting and intimidating church members and fencing off the church.
Joshua van Niekerk, the church’s assistant treasurer, said Makembe, his wife Bijoux, and Smith assaulted him in 2019. “[They] physically assaulted me, [Bijoux] in particular by dragging me into the main church building and assaulting me,” he said in an affidavit.
“I will make the video footage of this incident available to the honourable court prior to the hearing.”
Van Niekerk said the three have “fraudulently passed themselves as the [church’s] executive body” and attempted to “fraudulently” replace its constitution.
“[They] fraudulently attempted to appropriate the [church’s] monies from its respective banking accounts. [They] provided the respective financial institutions with a fabricated constitution and attempted to change
the signatories of the [church’s] banking accounts, and in fact withdrew money from the accounts.”
Van Niekerk said Makembe and Smith “established a fictitious trust in an attempt to legitimise their claim to collect monies on behalf of the [church]”. He said they attempted to claim ownership of the church’s property and “appointed their family members as the trustees of the fictitious trust”.
He said Makembe and his congregation joined the church in 2013. Makembe then became
very “arrogant and problematic” and influenced Smith to undermine the executive.
The church wants to stop Makembe from accessing its bank accounts, purporting to represent its executive and accepting donations on its behalf, and to vacate the premises.
In his responding affidavit, Makembe admitted there had been “unpleasant” confrontations between the two factions in 2019. He said criminal charges had been laid and protection orders obtained as a result.
“It is my humble submission, and it will be argued at the hearing of this matter, that Joshua van Niekerk’s real motive in launching this latest application was to try and nullify the criminal cases and domestic violence cases,” said Makembe.
He and his wife intend to launch a counter application because they felt Van Niekerk’s faction was also in breach of the court orders.
Makembe claimed his faction erected the fence to “prevent incidents of violence, assault
It is sad to see someone who was destitute and without food turning against the church that helped him
Derek Beukes
and racism”. He said he is a permanent resident of SA and joined the church in 2003.
“In my opinion, the real reason behind the latest application is that Joshua van Niekerk and his faction are desperately trying to push myself, [my wife] and our faction out of the church,” he said.
Makembe did not respond to questions from the Sunday Times when approached for comment this week.